The Number One Rule
by QueenZenobia
Summary: Two chapters. Emily and J.J. teach Hotch a lesson in privacy infringement.
1. Chapter 1

**The Number One Rule**

S.S.A Emily Prentiss took a seat next to Dr. Spencer Reid at the round table as the other members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit prepared their tablets for the briefing. The shuffling of files and the soft murmur of their voices filled the small space.

"What's wrong?" whispered Spencer. "You look confused."

"I am," confided the raven-haired beauty. "Do you know Thomas, the new Agent on the Missing Person's Unit?"

"Yes, I think so."

"I thought he liked me. We were going on a date tonight, but he just canceled, with no explanation."

"Ah, the number one rule," mumbled Spencer, nervously clearing his voice.

Emily was about to ask him what he meant, but Penelope hit her clicker and the crime scene photographs filled the screen.

* * *

It was a six-hour flight to Tucson and Hotch recommended that the team get some rest. But Emily was too worked up to sleep. She shared a blanket with J.J. and they spoke softly together. Emily told her about her disappointment with Agent Thomas and they tried to figure it out.

After reassuring Emily for the millionth time that she was gorgeous and likable, J.J. offered, "Maybe he doesn't feel well, Em. Yeah, that's it. He woke up feeling sick."

"So why not tell me? He could have just told me that," sighed Emily.

"Not if he has a terminal illness. Oh, Emily, how tragic! He'll be dead in six months. That's why he doesn't want to start anything with you."

"That's not funny, J.J."

"Sorry," she said yawning.

"I can't believe I wasted all morning shaving my legs and doing my hair. I was _so_ looking forward to our date!"

"No, you were looking forward to all the yummy stuff that comes _after_ the date."

The ladies giggled and Emily thought she heard Hotch clear his voice. Something about his manner made her suspect that, hidden behind that file, he was listening to their conversation. But why?

"Well, think about it this way, Em. Your date would have been canceled anyway because of this case."

"Yeah, but I'd be looking forward to a raincheck. J.J., you're not helping."

"Sorry," repeated the pretty blond. "I'm just really tired."

"No, I'm sorry," said Emily. "You should get some rest."

As J.J. dozed off, Emily remembered Reid's cryptic reference to a certain rule. She quietly got up, made her way to Spencer, and sat down next to him. He immediately became uncomfortable.

Without beating around the bush, Emily asked, "So, Spencer, what's the number one rule?"

"The what?" he croaked.

"You heard me."

"Please, Emily, you can't make me tell." When he glanced at Hotch, Emily was certain that all this had something to do with the Unit Chief.

"I'll tell you what, Reid," she negotiated. "You tell me about the number one rule right now, or I'll go tell Hotch you blabbed it to me."

"Oh, please, don't. He'll beam me with the laser of his stare until I die by his will power."

Emily laughed and said, "Spill it, Spencer."

"Fine," Spencer gulped. "The number one rule is..."

"Let's have it," she instructed when he hesitated, and she raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

Defeated, Spencer closed his eyes and sighed, "Nobody messes with Hotch's girls."

Emily gasped in disbelief. "What? So Hotch spies on us?"

"No, Morgan and I do the spying. Hotch just has a little chat with anyone who's out of line."

"And what does being out of line involve?"

"You know, ogling you or asking to date you."

"Reid, is this why J.J. and I can't get a date?"

"No, this is why you can't get a date in Quantico."

Emily dreaded the response to her next question, "What about outside Quantico?"

"Then we run a background check on the guy. If he has a record or anything suspicious then we're instructed to tail you."

"Reid!"

"We've never actually done it, Emily. Although your last date, Dr. Owen Hunt, had $1000.00 in unpaid parking tickets, but Hotch said he was cleared."

 _Cleared for what_ , she almost asked but shied away from the question.

"Reid, do you realize how wrong that is? Huge invasion of our privacy!"

"Hotch doesn't see it that way. He says that as Unit Chief he's responsible for you both on and off the clock."

And as Spencer revealed all the details of the number one rule, Emily formed a plan to teach the Unit Chief a lesson in privacy infringement.

* * *

Dressed in their SWAT uniforms, Emily and J.J. walked into the restaurant. As they made their way to table number 36 through a sea of flowers and candlelight, clients nervously glanced at them and J.J. announced, "Don't worry folks. Just a routine check. You're not in any danger."

As the agents approached the table, a wide-eyed Unit Chief watched their every move.

"Good evening, Sir," said Emily in a professional tone. "We certainly hope you're having a lovely evening."

"What's going on, Prentiss?" His initial worry had passed; his agents were too calm for anything to have happened. Now he was just plain curious.

"Nothing at all, Sir. Just have a few questions to ask this lovely lady."

And J.J. chimed in, "You know, in the interest of being thorough."

"Being thorough with what?" asked Hotch. He didn't like their tone and he was getting angry now.

"With the number one rule, of course," said Emily with a straight face and Hotch went blank. "Now Beth, if you could just fill out this questionnaire, then we can all be on our way. It'll just help us with the background check." Emily handed her a clipboard and a pen with the FBI logo.

"Background check?" asked Beth with a quiver in her adorable chin. "Aaron?"

And for some strange reason Emily could not explain, she absolutely detested to hear this woman, this outsider, call Hotch by his first name. She neatly packed the thought away to analyze it later when she was alone.

J.J. answered, "Yes, perfectly normal. We check on anyone dating Agent Hotchner because, in our line of work, you can never be too careful."

"Yes," added Emily, "and while we're here, maybe you could tell us what exactly are your intentions with our noble Unit Chief."

"Okay. Prentiss, J.J., that's enough," interjected Hotch.

"Yes, Sir," retorted Emily. "We believe it's quite enough. In fact, we believe it's too much!"

"Fine," he gave in. "You made your point. We'll talk about this first thing Monday morning."

"Perfect," said Emily. "Then it's a date." And before walking away she looked into Beth's eyes and rejoiced at seeing a glimpse of apprehension there.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: LOL! Just a thought. Had a ton of fun writing it. Thank you for reading! Please review.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's note: One more chapter, for JuliaGog. Thank you for reading!**_

* * *

On Monday morning Hotch announced that the regularly scheduled briefing was postponed for after lunch because "something's come up." Each agent was waiting to be called in to the Unit Chief's office. Rossi had been first, and through the window it appeared as if Rossi had done all the talking while the Unit Chief sheepishly assented. Emily concluded that Rossi was not a fan of the number one rule and was now engaged in an I-told-you-so speech.

Next up was J.J., followed by Reid.

"Hey, Princess, what do you think this is all about?" asked Morgan.

"What? You don't know? That's ironic," mocked Emily.

"Why is it ironic?" Curiosity twinkled in his dark chocolate eyes.

"Because you're important enough to know about the number one rule, but you're the last to know that an agent is being cut from the BAU. You know, downsizing. It's probably you."

Morgan's jaw nearly dropped.

"Bull!" he finally spat out. "And how do you know about the number one rule? Reid! That little rat. I'm going to rearrange his face."

"Looks like Hotch beat you to it."

Downcast and sullen, Reid returned to his desk. He told Emily, "Thank you for that, Em. I really enjoyed that. Thanks a lot." Reid sat down and the agents laughed. But Morgan's smile faded when Hotch called him next.

 _So I'm last_ , thought Emily. _Coward!_

She quickly called J.J. on her desk line and asked, "Well, what happened?"

"He apologized and said blah, blah, blah, and then he assigned me to schedule a team building exercise. I'm going to take advantage of his remorse and book us for an entire weekend with our families."

"Was he angry, you know, about _her_?" Emily didn't want to say the name Beth. All weekend Emily had been puzzled by these sudden feelings of hostility towards a perfectly decent woman. And now she couldn't even say her name? _Come on, Emily, get it together!_

J.J. laughed, "Well, he wasn't smiling much, but no, he wasn't mad. He was concerned that his _lack of judgement_ –his words– could have affected the team's dynamics."

"So it's all about work to him? He has no idea that he crossed a line, a personal line! And you let him get away with it?"

"Well, yeah," J.J. faltered a bit. "He was really sweet, Em. I would forgive him for anything."

"Well, I can't!" assured Emily. "I'm going to tell him…"

Just then Hotch called, "Prentiss, can I please see you in my office?"

Emily froze and J.J. giggled, "You were saying, Agent Prentiss?"

"Oh, you be quiet, J.J.!" said Emily and she hung up. She took a deep breath and climbed the stairs to the Unit Chief's office.

* * *

"Please, shut the door," said the Unit Chief as he took his seat behind his desk.

"No," replied Emily in a steady voice. Only her smoldering eyes gave away the tumult in her thoughts.

"No?" asked Hotch in disbelief.

"No."

"And may I ask why?"

"Because we're not going to do this here, in the Unit Chief's office, where you're the boss and you're in control. I have questions, Hotch, and I'm not going to let you bully me into submission."

He cringed at the word _bully_ and she immediately regretted her unfortunate choice of words. "Not that I think you're a bully or anything…" She was starting to falter. Her courage was waning.

"It's fine, Emily. We can have our talk anywhere you want," he said calmly.

"Really?" So now it was _Emily_ , not Prentiss.

"Yes."

Beyond showing that she wasn't scared of him, she hadn't thought her plan through. Where else could they have a private talk, if not in Hotch's office? _Think fast, Emily._ "Is the conference room okay?"

"Yes." He stood up and made his way around the desk with his eyes fixed on hers. A stray thought filled her head and kept her glued to her spot. What if one day he could come towards her, just like this, to kiss her senseless? "After you."

She led the way to the conference room next to J.J.'s office.

"Can I shut the door?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied feeling silly. He was her boss. Who was she kidding? He was the one with the real power.

"Please?" he held out the seat at the end of the table for her, then he sat next to her, symbolically placing himself as her subordinate. Emily understood the gesture and smiled.

"So, ask away," he invited.

"Okay. When did this number one rule thing begin? And please be honest."

Without as much as blinking he said, "The day you went away to college."

Emily's heart stopped. Her features revealed her shock and he laughed. "I'm sorry, but it's true. Your mother added _you_ to my list of duties. And let me tell you, it was not easy."

"What duties were those?" she coughed out.

"Run a background check on your dates, make sure they weren't total creeps."

"And… did you tag along… ever?"

"Once or twice." But this time the Unit Chief looked away, as if embarrassed.

Emily's thoughts were running away with her as she struggled to process the violent feelings that threatened to break her poker face. She was ashamed. Her freshman encounters were not something she wanted her boss to know about, but it was now clear to her that he had first-hand knowledge of the most intimate nature. But her shame was soon replaced by anger, an infuriating, pubescent anger towards her parents. She thought that age and maturity had helped her overcome that anger, but it resurfaced now, only stronger. She was a volcano about to erupt. And Hotch knew it.

He placed a strong hand over hers and said softly, "I know this is a lot to process. So let me tell you a few things. I'll talk, you listen. And whenever you're ready, you can talk. Okay?"

She knew he was being kind, but her rebellious nature would have had her screaming, "Don't patronize me!" But she wasn't sure if she could speak without a tremor in her voice. So she simply nodded.

He started slowly, testing the waters of her temper. "Your parents did it because someone threatened you." That was news to her. He saw a spark of curiosity in her eyes and he continued with more confidence. "The Ambassador's trip to the Middle East bought her a lot of enemies. One of them, the Javadi family, followed her back to D.C."

The name was vaguely familiar to Emily. And then she remembered: Hamid Javadi. He was in her freshman Humanities course. He was wealthy, incredibly handsome, and so intelligent. She remembered wanting him to ask her out and he wouldn't. He would just flirt with her, until one day she asked him out. But on the night of their date he didn't show up, and she never saw him again. Now she knew why. He was going to hurt her. And Hotch had stopped him.

"Okay," she finally said, "That was a million years ago. Why now?"

"There is no excuse for my behavior. But you deserve an explanation, so here goes. I hated the way some of the agents would look at you, like a piece of meat to be devoured."

She felt a blush color her cheeks.

He continued, "And after the first few cases… I don't know, it just happened. You were so raw, so vulnerable. I didn't want any of them to take advantage of you. And…"

"And what?" she urged.

"Well, on the field I protect you. I would give my life for you. That's not something you can just turn off when we land at Quantico."

Now she knew why J.J. let him off with a light slap on the wrist: Aaron Hotchner was a teddy bear. "I can take care of myself, Hotch."

"I know you can," he assured.

"And how I choose to unwind after a case is none of your business."

"I know that, too."

"And I deserve an apology."

"Of course, you do. Emily, I am so sorry." His eyes were full of sincerity.

"And I'm curious," she added with a tinge of mirth. "What did you say to Agent Thomas?"

Hotch smiled like a Cheshire cat and answered, "I pretended that I was interested in his application to the BAU and told him that it would never happen if he dated one of my girls."

Emily couldn't help but laugh. She had only sensed Agent Thomas' ambitious nature, but Hotch had read him like a book.

At that moment, J.J. walked in and stopped short when she saw Emily holding hands with the Unit Chief. She cleared her voice and Hotch unlatched his hand from hers.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said, but her smile revealed that she wasn't sorry at all. "But Director Strauss needs your approval for the team building exercise."

"Okay," he answered J.J. and then to Emily, "Do you mind if we take this up again later? There are still some things that need to be said."

"Okay," she said. There was no explanation for the thrill that swept through her at the words. A foolish, illogical flutter in the pit of her stomach.

"Okay," he repeated flashing his dimpled smile. And then he was gone.

 _ **The End**_


End file.
